The Yale Glee Club Blog

On Wednesday, the Glee Club drove back across the island to Honolulu, stopping along the way to visit the Pearl Harbor memorial and to sing with the high school students at the Waldorf School. Before we knew it, we were wearing fuschia leis at a luau at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Daniel Olson '12 writes about the remainder of our trip. Photos courtesy of Connor Kenaston. When it rains in Hawai’I, what is the glee club to do? For many of us, it meant walking up the mountains outside of Honolulu into a rain cloud. The Kuliouou Ridge trail usually offers striking views of both sides of the island. Last Thursday, the trail was covered in mud! Though many a glee clubber lost his or her shoes to the muddy trek, the haunting performance of Sarah Hopkins’ “Past Life Melodies” at the top definitely made up for the losses. Some of us (including me) decided to stay in the dryer environs of Waikiki. Exploring one of the most famous strands of beach in the entire world was...

Monday, 6am. Sitting on the floor of the LAX terminal, venti coffee in hand, staring blankly at the Bananagrams tiles scattered across the stained carpet. 2 time zones ahead, 2 pm, Honolulu. Jamba Juice at the Ala Moana Center. Birds, beaches, and green seem to be everywhere. We learn the one Hawaiian word we must know, Mahalo. Apparently two consonants never exist in a row in the Hawaiian language. (I spent the rest of the trip searching for exceptions, to no avail.) 3:15 pm. No time to lose! We hike up Diamond Head Volcano. There is nothing quite like looking over miles and miles of beach, mountains, trees, water with no end that fuses into sky with no beginning. Triumphantly yoiking the mountain wind is only natural at this moment. And when it starts pouring on our decline, frolicking across the hills in the rain is deemed necessary. 6:15 pm. A bit overwhelmed and still quite wet, wandering around a large room filled with colorful clothing and colorful food. Han...

Before we continue on to the Hawai'i portion of our trip, Goh Wee Shian reminisces about our California activities.  The long awaited spring tour has finally arrived! High in spirits, the glee club set off on Friday to their first stop at California. San Diego was refreshing in many aspects. Aside from the wonderful weather, San Diego also boasts some incredibly beautiful spots. For example, we visited the Garden of the Self-Realization Fellowship located in San Diego County. Taking a stroll in the gardens definitely gave me a sense of serenity. Moreover, the garden was situated on top of a hill and offered a magnificent view of the beach. The ebb and flow of the waves, together with the occasional breeze that brushed across my cheek, were inexplicably therapeutic, casting all my worries out of my mind momentarily. Next, we visited the Hotel Del Coronado on Coronado Island. This edifice counts ex-presidents, royalties and head of states as amongst its many distinguishe...

After spending the night in wonderful homestays in San Diego (after the concert our host family took us immediately to In N Out Burger, on which this post will elaborate...), we drove right back to LA for our second concert. Jacob Metrick '13 writes about some things that particularly stood out.  Three facts: 1. The Glee Club is freakin’ good at singing. Well, at least according to the completely unbiased cousins (and parent) of mine, we’ve never sounded better. We started out with two of my personal favorite pieces: Sanctus from Martin’s requiem, and four movements (I, II, V, and VI) from Howells’ requiem. The Sanctus is extremely powerful in its emotional range: it has sections like the end which seem to evoke more passion and fire than any other piece, which is contrasted by the intensity of the quieter sections. I could talk all day about Howells requiem, but the best thing I could say is that the piece is downright beautiful. Every moment of it is meaningful and ...

The first stop on our tour was to sunny San Diego! We drove there after a night in LA, stopping on the way to reflect in the breathtaking Self-Realization Fellowship Gardens in Encinitas, and then to sink our toes into the sand for the first time at Coronado Island. Ashby Cogan '14 writes about our first concert of tour:  After a couple hours soaking up the sun and ensuring a prosperous quarter for the MooTime Creamery, the Glee Club boarded the buses to the First Presbyterian Church of San Diego for rehearsal and joint concert with the Whiffenpoofs. We speedily rehearsed our program, which included many pieces we had not sung in a while. Among them, terrifyingly, was a 24-part canon we had not performed since December. With fewer than fifteen minutes to review it we ironed out our missed entrances and proceeded through the program. Pre-concert energy levels varied—personally I felt like the jetlag monster had just scraped me off the bottom of its shoe—but as we got ...